ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - The race for the remaining six spots for the second edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) has now reached  the Last 16 after the conclusion of the First Round of the Road to BAL 2022 held over the weekend.

The ten teams that finished in the top-two places of Groups A, B, C, D and E joined the top-two ranked teams from Group F, played two weeks ago in Johannesburg, South Africa.

These twelve teams will be joined by former African champions Association Sportive Sale of Morocco - who qualified automatically to this stage of the competition - and three other teams that will be invited to complete the Elite 16 Round of the BAL, scheduled for November and December.

Then, the 16 teams will be divided into two groups (G and H) of eight teams each. 

But, how did the Elite 16 Round of BAL unfold?

So far, five teams - Cape Town Tigers, S.O.A, FA.P, City Oilers and New Star - remain undefeated. 

With only two teams competing in Group A in the Guinean capital of Conakry - following the withdrawal of Boufarik (Algeria) and Predio Basketball (Cape Verde), home side SLAC and Mali's champions AS Police shared one win apiece to advance to the Second Round.

In the first encounter between the two sides, SLAC got away with a 95-93 triumph, but two days later, the Policemen returned the favour winning 80-72.

AS Police

Still in Conakry, Societe Omnisport de L'Armee (S.O.A) of Cote d'Ivoire reigned supreme in Group B after beating Nigerien champions AS Nigelec (1-1) and Republic of Benin champions ASPAC (0-2) in their two games. 

S.O.A and AS Nigelec secured the group's two slots for the next round while ASPAC were eliminated. Academie D'or des Arches of Burkina Faso pulled out of the Qualifiers. 

Playing as host of Group C in Yaounde, Forces Armees Police (F.A.P) of Cameroon, who featured the inaugural edition of the BAL, sent a clear message about their BAL intentions after beating Central African Republic's Tondema (0-2) and DR Congo's Espoir Fukash (1-1).

F.A.P

While the Congolese advanced to the Second Round, Tondema returned home winless.

In the East Division held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Group D belonged Burundi's New Star.

The Burundians proved too much for Kenya's champions Ulinzi Warriors and Cobra Sport (0-2) of South Sudan as they clinched the top spot of the group with two wins in as many games. 

New Star

The Warriors finished second with a 1-1 mark thanks to a 53-47 win over Cobra Sport on the last day. New Star and Warriors advanced to the next round while both Hawassa City of Ethiopia and Madagascar's ASCUT, who had been drawn in Group D, withdrew a few days before the competition.

Still in Dar es Salaam, Ugandan City Oilers dispatched their Group E opponents Kurasini Heat of Tanzania and Brave Hearts by an average of 25 points per game to finish undefeated in the First Round.

Oilers (2-0) and Heat (1-1) moved on while Hearts (0-2) were eliminated.

South Africa's Tigers faced stiff opposition in Group F but the newly-formed team made sure to protect their home court advantage. 

The South African champions overcame Roche-Bois Warriors of Mauritius, Zambia's Matero Magic before beating Ferroviario da Beira in a highly-contested match to close their First Round of the BAL 2022 Qualifiers with a 3-0.

Cape Town Tigers

Ferroviario da Beira closed their Group F's campaign with a 2-1 record thanks to wins over Roche-Bois Warriors and Matero Magic.

Tigers and Beira advanced to the Elite 16 Round of the BAL.

The champions of Angola (Petro de Luanda), Egypt (Zamalek), Nigeria, Rwanda (REG Basketball), Senegal (DUC) and Tunisia (US Monastir) have qualified automatically for the Final Round of the BAL.

The site for the Elite 16 Round of the BAL will be announced at a later date.

FIBA